10 pro-Morsi supporters jailed for life in Egypt

Four of the accused were present in court while the others were sentenced in absentia.

The defendants were accused of protesting without official permission, damaging public property, attacking residents and blocking roads during a protest in September last year. Source: AP

Ten members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group have been sentenced to life imprisonment for damaging property and attacking people during a protest against the ouster of president Mohammed Morsi last year.

The Mansoura Criminal Court sentenced 10 members of the Muslim Brotherhood to life imprisonment yesterday, state-run MENA news agency reported.

The defendants were accused of protesting without official permission, damaging public property, attacking residents and blocking roads during a protest in September last year.

Four of the accused were present in court while the others were sentenced in absentia.

Since the ouster of Morsi, Egypt’s first elected president, his group and loyalists have faced a state crackdown.

Thousands are currently in prison and hundreds have been killed in clashes with security. State authorities accuse the group of waging militant attacks across the country.

More than 1,000 people have been killed and 16,000 detained in a crackdown by the authorities on Morsi’s supporters.

Last month, an Egyptian court sentenced Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie and 36 other Islamists to life in prison, and confirmed death sentences for 10 others.

Badie, convicted of involvement in deadly protests, has already received death sentences in two other cases in a crackdown on the opposition after last year’s ouster of Morsi.

Morsi himself is currently in prison over charges of killing protesters, espionage, escaping from prison during the January 25 Revolution in 2011, and insulting the judiciary.